Guide to Significant Wildlife Habitat - Door County Web Map
Guide to Significant Wildlife Habitat - Door County Web Map
Guide to Significant Wildlife Habitat - Door County Web Map
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
Presettlement ecological processes have been disturbed by roads, residential development, poor<br />
logging practices, and past forest grazing. Roads and residential development constitute the clearest and<br />
most damaging change in this landscape. However, despite the fragmentation by roads, agricultural land<br />
and residential development, a practical ecological corridor for many species and processes is already<br />
present and res<strong>to</strong>ration opportunities exist throughout the site on abandoned agricultural fields. The<br />
condition of the surrounding landscape is typical for northern <strong>Door</strong> <strong>County</strong>, being a mix of open fields<br />
(abandoned or under cultivation), small woodlots and wetlands and scattered residential buildings.<br />
While this site constitutes a major ecological pathway across the peninsula it should also be noted<br />
that it also links natural landscapes on both coasts of the peninsula. The Hibbards Creek and Meridian<br />
Park forests provide the link from the Bjorklunden forest <strong>to</strong> the Cave Point/Whitefish Dunes forest. On<br />
the Green Bay coast the forests of Peninsula Park and the Fish Creek watershed protect exposed bluffs of<br />
the Niagara Escarpment that represent several of the best in a series of outcrops that run the length of the<br />
peninsula (i.e., Boyer’s Bluff, <strong>Door</strong> Bluff, Ellison Bluff, Sister Bay Bluffs, White Cliff Road Bluffs, Bay<br />
Shore Blufflands, and Potawa<strong>to</strong>mi Bluffs).<br />
Overall, the species richness of the site is very good with state and federally listed species<br />
present. Wisconsin’s Natural Heritage Inven<strong>to</strong>ry has documented 57 rare animals, invertebrates, plants<br />
and natural community types within this proposed conservation area. Refer <strong>to</strong> Appendices “A”, “B” and<br />
“C” for further information.<br />
NOTEWORTHY CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL FEATURES:<br />
After the last survivors of the Winnebago Indians fled <strong>to</strong> an area around Lake Winnebago, the<br />
Peninsula became the domain of the Potawa<strong>to</strong>mi. Their largest village was Mechingan, at the mouth of<br />
Hibbards Creek, just north of present day Jacksonport, which was the last district <strong>to</strong> be settled in the<br />
county. The Potawa<strong>to</strong>mi were very hospitable and liked nothing more than <strong>to</strong> be praised for their<br />
generosity. It was in the early 1650’s that a great war was raging in Lower Ontario and the adjoining<br />
regions.<br />
The Iroquois, perhaps the most warlike of the Indian tribes, came <strong>to</strong> the peninsula’s shores of<br />
Lake Michigan hunting the remnants of several tribes, among many, they had been seeking <strong>to</strong> destroy.<br />
These fleeing tribes sought refuge from the Iroquois, at the Potawa<strong>to</strong>mi village of Mechingan, swelling its<br />
population from around 1500 <strong>to</strong> 4000. It was here that the Iroquois met defeat. This was one of the most<br />
important events in the his<strong>to</strong>ry of western Indians (Holand 1925). The Hibbards Creek area has been one<br />
of the more significant archeological sites in the state. Many of the relics found there can be seen at the<br />
Neville Public Museum in Green Bay.<br />
SITE FEATURES:<br />
Fish Creek Watershed<br />
Fish Creek is a small 1 and ½ mile long, 8-foot wide stream with a moderate gradient of 15 feet<br />
per mile. The headwaters of the stream are spring fed. But<strong>to</strong>n Marsh is a large forested wetland<br />
associated with Fish Creek. The creek runs the length of the Niagara Escarpment until a pooling area<br />
occurs at a small dam. From that point the creek flows through the village of Fish Creek and then in<strong>to</strong><br />
Fish Creek Harbor at the southern boundary of Peninsula State Park.<br />
• Fish Creek is in the Town of Gibraltar. Gibraltar has adopted <strong>Door</strong> <strong>County</strong>’s zoning ordinance.<br />
• Land use near Fish Creek is predominantly woodlots with lesser amounts of idle farmland, orchards,<br />
other natural lands, farmed areas, and scattered single family residences.<br />
• Soils near Fish Creek are shallow <strong>to</strong> deep, well drained, and almost level <strong>to</strong> moderately steep. A<br />
loamy sandy loam or loam subsoil overlays loam or find sandy loam till or dolos<strong>to</strong>ne bedrock (USDA<br />
SCS 1978).<br />
98<br />
Bay <strong>to</strong> Lake <strong>Wildlife</strong> Corridor